In the last couple of posts I made about Baldur’s Gate 3, I talked a lot about its characters and the amount of freedom the game allows you. I’m still greatly enjoying both and could readily talk about either again, but today I’d like to talk about something else. For all the freedom the game allows, there is one that it does not: freedom from consequence. Your choices, failures and even successes have a weight to them in this game that I don’t think I’ve ever really encountered before. It’s quite refreshing in many ways, but boy does it get heavy at times too. That heaviness doesn’t always come when you’d expect it either.

Before we begin, I’m going to have be rather vague about events in order to avoid spoilers, so please excuse me if I can’t paint all that good of a picture moving forward. With that out of the way, let me tell you about the kind of character I’m trying to play. My guy Alaros is a half-elf who spent his early-life growing up in Baldur’s Gate as the son of a craftsman. His formative years were spent learning his father’s craft and enjoying the kind of lower-middle class life that most craftspeople in the city live.

At some point, he journeyed with his mother out to the wilds to learn more about his wood-elf side, learn the necessities of survival, and was trained as a fighter (he didn’t really have much aptitude as a ranger). All and all, he had a good upbringing and is meant to more or less be a Neutral Good-aligned character. In most RPGs, this would mean talking people down, confronting evil characters and being straight-forward in his dealings. And the results: generally few casualties. This is not exactly how things have gone in Baldur’s Gate 3 though. In this game, things often don’t go the way you think they will.

For starters, it’s not always wise to call people out on their intentions or reveal what you know. It’s common sense in real life to be sure, but in RPGs NPCs tend to back down or seek to strike deals when this happens. This does happen in Baldur’s Gate 3, but it can backfire just as often. At least twice now I’ve wound causing fights rather than avoiding them by doing this, and on one occasion I caused what can only be described as a total disaster. What did I do that time? I warned someone that the person before them was not to be trusted. Suffice it to say that things escalated immediately and my warning wound up being useless in the end. The cost of my actions: a whole lot of friendly deaths. In trying to call a bluff, I achieved the polar opposite of what I’d intended.

On another occasion, Alaros and his party found themselves confronted by a band of powerful enemies. Thanks to some fast-talking and favorable dice rolls, they were not immediately hostile, but this encounter could still only end in one of two ways: combat or convincing them to leave. They happened to have an important item with them, something needed to progress through this (very dangerous) area. In fact, without said item, this group of enemies would almost certainly perish in some horrible way. Alaros didn’t want to kill them if he could avoid it, but the fact remained that he and his party needed that item. So, what to do?

The enemies thought that we were of the same faction, and the only reason they were talking instead of fighting was because they thought Alaros and his group had been sent to join up with them. Walking with them wasn’t an option; they’d likely catch on really soon if the party tried to infiltrate, so again it came down to two options: fight them, kill them, and take the item or convince them to hand it over and go.

After all, there was a chance they’d be okay, right? Well, Alaros opted for the latter, preying on their belief that he was an ally under special direction from the leader. This did convince them to hand it over, but they were reluctant to leave. After all, it was their only protection from their surroundings. They protested, asked to travel with the party.

Alaros chose to intimidate, saying that the leader wanted them to travel separately. Convinced, but visibly downtrodden, the group left the area and slowly trudged out into the landscape, visibly afraid and shaken by what just happened. On they went though, spurred on by their faith in the faction leader’s power and wisdom.

They…wound up walking to their deaths. You could hear their frightened, agonized screams as the dangers of the area took them. Certainly this was a group of monsters aligned with an evil faction, but this was probably the coldest, most downright unsympathetic thing I’ve ever done as a “good” character. Those enemies were going to die either way, but it would have been far better to have taken them in honorable combat than to make them march out to their doom like that.

The smooth-talking was in-character for Alaros, but that result, forcing them to leave and watching it all quietly play out…I’m not so sure. He’d already seen plenty of death by this point, so maybe it’s a case of being hardened against it, but still. If this is true to character, than this adventure has already changed him for the worse.

There have been other things that have happened due to the choices he’s made in Baldur’s Gate 3 so far. Some have worked out well. Others like those I’ve mentioned here though…not so much. Alaros is not the classic hero I meant for him to be, neither are the rest of those in the party. They might be the world’s best hope against what’s coming, but they’re not heroes. Regardless of their intentions, all they (and I) have are the results. And they’re not great so far. Hopefully things will go better in the future (and in the next playthrough). Until then, this is a great ride so far, but man can things weigh on you in here!

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What kinds of characters do you like to play in RPGs? Have you had anything like this happen in any other games?

Image from the Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam page